Victorian Street Walk

The Thursday after Thanksgiving is Victorian Street Walk in Saratoga Springs.  They close off Broadway, a few people dress in funny outfits and a ton of normal people put on their warm clothes and go out for an evening of tree lighting, carousel rides, hot chocolate and holiday festivities.

watching the tree lighting

winter carousel ride!

all of us on the carousel

MiniM.E. had a blast listening to the carolers (we almost missed them, they were so deep in the crowd waiting to see the tree lighting and that was ALL MiniM.E. cared about- not the tree, not Santa arriving, just the carolers).  Riding the carousel was definitely the best part of the evening, and we got to ride FOUR times because the attendants didn't have enough change for a $20.  We should have stopped there because we tried to go out to dinner and things went downhill, but overall I think MiniM.E. had a good time.

In other news, Baby#2 is smiling!! And it is SO CUTE!

In Other News...

despite this face, Baby#2 loves a good bath

watching the mobile together

rocker cuddles

a mustache party

Sunnyside Gardens gingerbread house

rocking the Boppy Pillow

a haircut!

from the back

watching TV together

 

soooo tired

chasing some ducks

being chased BY ducks

 

singing with friends

let me think about that.... 

"How do you like the snow?"

MiniM.E.: "Are we done yet?"  Baby#2: "Christmas pictures?  I'm outta here!"

Happy Thanksgiving

From a little pre-Thanksgiving Christmas shopping to cutting down the tree, we had a pretty spectacular Thanksgiving weekend.

We started by preparing for Thursday's dinner.  MiniM.E. was more excited to start shopping for Christmas:

Then came the cooking-- while we opted for turkey pie to make things a bit easier (not to mention the fact that I've never cooked a turkey), there were still lots of other things to prepare- like pumpkin pie.  Thanks to Gram for coming to help us out- if it were just me and the girls, we would have had to order in McDonalds!

Everyone came to our house for Thanksgiving:  Meamaw & Grandpa, Uncle Dave, Uncle Billy, Gram & Grumpy and Auntie Jen.  We haven't had that many people over for dinner in... ever... But it went really well and everyone had a good time.  Since we don't see Meamaw and Grandpa often, here are a couple photos of them with Leah.

On Sunday after everyone went home, we went to cut our tree down at Bob's Trees.  MiniM.E. wasn't really into it and spent most of the time playing in the snow:

Even though it was slim picking because most people probably went Friday or Saturday and a lot of trees were tagged from the fall, we still found a decent one (after a looonnng search):

MiniM.E. holding it up by a tiny branch

Bob's also had fun cut-outs, reindeer and a wagon ride with carolers which we went on twice because MiniM.E. liked the singing.  (Her new favorite Christmas carol is 12 Days of Christmas)

And then, of course, we had to put it up, put the lights on and decorate it.  MiniM.E. (in all actuality) was a huge help with the decorating.

Snow!!

This morning we woke up to snow.  MiniM.E. was so excited, it was almost as if she'd never seen snow before.  She was ready to put on her snow clothes and run outside at 7am.  Unfortunately, the snow had already turned to rain, so no playing in the snow for us today... 

With the cooler weather, we've been staying inside more.  Lots of sister cuddles.

sleepy smile- one month old!

lots of naps

chilly swinging

feeding the ducks

Baby#2's First Trip to NH

After our first week with just the three of us, we decided on a last minute trip to NH since MiniM.E. didn't have school Monday and it gave us four days of vacation.

We relaxed and played with all the fun toys at Gram and Grumpy's on Saturday afternoon.  MiniM.E. was most excited to see my parent's cat, Honey Bunches, and carried him around and brushed him.

Sunday we drove down to Boston for the Boston Christmas Festival, a craft fair with a gingerbread competition.  Gram and I liked shopping, MiniM.E. and Grumpy did not.  Fortunately, MiniM.E. was fairly patient while we shopped and she got a huge hit out of the gingerbread houses.

especially the Frozen one, even though she hasn't seen the movie

 To make up for dragging her around a craft fair, we walked over to the Children's Museum afterward.

pulling...

a giant bubble!

golf ball roller coaster! 

more golf balls

and more

and more!

giant building blocks

Our day in Boston was fun, but tiring for everyone.  Monday and Tuesday morning we just took it easy.  Baby#2 took her first sink bath with MiniM.E.'s help:

MiniM.E. played in a giant pile of leaves Grumpy made for her:

And Baby#2 sat around and took naps:

It was a bit crazy to make a last minute trip with both girls, but MiniM.E. had a great time (and didn't want to leave) and Baby#2 didn't put up a fuss, so she must have had a good time too.  And I got a bit of a rest since MiniM.E. had someone to play with.  I even got to go out all by myself and get a haircut!  Thanks for having us Gram & Grumpy!